Kenyan Deaths From Illegal Alcohol Climbs as Suspects Sought

May 8 (Bloomberg) -- Kenyan police are seeking suspects in
connection with the poisoning deaths of at least 77 people and
the hospitalization of more than 100 after they consumed toxic
home-brewed alcohol, spokesman Masoud Mwinyi said.

Investigators are trying to determine the source of the
illegal brew, which was distributed to slum areas in five Kenyan
counties including Nairobi, Mwinyi said today by phone. Patients
are suffering from ailments that include blindness and the
number of dead will probably increase, he said.

Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said in a post on his
Twitter account that more than 100 people died in the poisoning
incident, before deleting it and issuing a new statement that
“many” were killed. Nation Television, a Nairobi-based
broadcaster, said 105 people were killed, without citing anyone.

About 2.2 million Kenyans are alcoholics in a population of
18 million aged 20 years or older. Factors including high levels
of unemployment and rampant poverty underpin the problem,
according to the state-run National Authority for the Campaign
Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse.

Drinkers will often resort to cheaper, illegal home-brewed
alcohol in the absence of an “affordable alternative,” Joe
Muganda, managing director of Kenya Breweries Ltd., told
reporters today in the capital, Nairobi.

“The grim truth is that these deaths are wholly
unnecessary as they are totally avoidable, he said.

Excise Duties

The unit of East African Breweries Ltd., which controls 95
percent of Kenya’s beer market and half of the country’s spirits
business, is urging the government to lower excise duties on
alcohol so brewers can reduce prices, Muganda said.

Two people have been arrested for selling the illicit
liquor, the Interior Ministry said yesterday. Kenyan law
provides for jail sentences as long as five-years and a 10-million-shilling ($114,810) fine for anyone convicted of
‘‘adulterating alcoholic drinks,” the ministry said.

In 2000, at least 113 people in Nairobi’s slums died and
another 394 were treated in the hospital after drinking illegal
alcohol.